announcing...

Evelyn Rose Schmutz

March 21, 2012

8:55 pm

6 lbs 9 oz

21 inches long

adorable, sweet and loves looking and cooing at anyone who will talk to her.

loveliest little baby around. 

Snow Day

We finally got to play in some snow this winter! Back in January we had an entire week of snow days for Jake - which meant snow days for all of us!

Ashlyn was excited that she was able to sled right in our little backyard.

And also build her first little snow man - she was so proud.

It was an incredibly fun week of snow! Hopefully it will happen again next year!

Christmas 2011

We were excited to be able to spend Christmas with family this year. Ashlyn, especially, loves spending time with her cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents. She has a pretty special bond with each and every one of them.

Our Christmas celebrations started with a delicious Christmas Eve dinner at the Gillis'. This was the first time that we had all been together since last time Jake came to Utah, David was still on his mission. And before David went on his mission, Megan hadn't been born. 

So we were very excited that everyone was able to gather in Utah to spend Christmas Eve together as one big family. Megan was extra excited!

After dinner, we were able to watch an adorable little Christmas Nativity played out by the grandkids and the kids still living at home.

It was wonderful - everyone did a great job!

Megan did a great job as Mary, especially in taking care of the little baby.

Ashlyn had a lot of fun playing the part of the singing chorus of angels. After the nativity, we were able to gather around and exchange gift since we were parting ways that night. We then packed up and headed to the Schmutz house where...

...Santa Claus showed up that night! Ashlyln was quite impressed, and a little confused, about why there were so many toys left out the next morning. There was no complaining, though, when we explained they were all for her.

Even now, she will still ask me if we brought home all of the toys she got at Christmas. She will ask "We didn't leave it at Grandmas?" And I will have to assure her that we did, indeed, bring all those toys home.

We had such a Merry Christmas and are excited to make the trek and do it all again next year! (hopefully with a bigger car, though!)

Dance Recital

Ashlyn loved her first dance class! She is excited to go every week and dance with her "friends".

She was a little shy to have Jake and I there for the recital day, but she soon warmed up and did a fantastic job dancing.

Ashlyn was very good at pointing her adorable little toes, stretching her legs, and...

...getting her wiggles out!

One of Ashlyn's favorite dance games was to play ballet fairies who go and awake the sleeping ballet princesses.

Ashlyn did a great job with her little solo dance.  I love to watch her move to the music, she's got some great natural rhythm...

...and an amazing amount of grace for a 3 year old. I love my sweet little ballerina!

We especially thought it was special that Jake was able to come. Our little girl loves her daddy!

I can't wait for the next recital!

back in september...

...I forgot to post about our little adventure!

So, back in September, we headed up to Coeur d'Alene Idaho for a little week long selling job Jake wanted to do. Ashlyn and I obliged, and figured we'd make a little vacation out of it.  

As it turns out, there isn't a whole lot to do in Coeur d'Alene in September. We had missed all the summer adventures (which weren't kid friendly anyways) so we were stuck trying to find something to fill up a weeks worth of time.

Well, in Ashlyn's humble opinion, we stuck gold! We discovered miniature golf! My not so little miss schmutz was in heaven the rest of the week.

In one week, we ended up heading to the outdoor miniature golf course four times, the indoor one twice, and the game arcade twice (where we were able to make off with 5 rubber duckies and 2 bouncy balls.. we are so good!).

Now, back here in Seattle, we just can't wait for it to - 1- become warm again. 2- for sunlight to be around more than 8 hours a day. 3- for it to at some point stop raining long enough for the sidewalk to dry. or 4- just build an indoor miniature golf course already!

We're so glad when cousins come visit...

...glad as we can be!

We had a lot of fun playing at the park

making yummy caramel apples

exploring a pumpkin patch complete with

bucking hay barrels

photo opportunities

and, of course, pumpkins - even green ones

oranges ones too

also, good pumpkin chairs

megan had fun running around with us mommies and practicing not falling down among the numerous shoe tripping vines 

we also got to discover a rubber duck race

which quickly turned into a fascination with just the water pumps... forget those ducks 

and, finally, we got to climb on hay barrels! 

While in Seattle, our cousins also ventured with us down to our favorite...

Pike's Place Market!

Where we filled our tummies with crepes (laura's favorite), mini donuts (kid's favorite), and lamb yeero (my favorite)

we also tried our luck at getting all the kids to look at us, at the same time, and smile

it didn't work... but megan was very cooperative!

The kids loved looking at the water.

And, finally, the last morning in Washington ended up being very wet.

We decided to still head out and enjoy some breakfast.

We headed to downtown Kirkland and stopped by our favorite pastry shop for some melt-in-your-mouth croissants, a covered gazebo for the adults,

And a wet park adventure, with umbrellas, for the kids!

We loved having our cousins Taylor and Megan come over to our house! We hope they can come again soon! We also enjoyed a lot of other fun things, and food, yet (sadly) didn't get any pictures of them! 

It was a fun and sun filled week!

We Love Cousins!